At one time set up at DreamWorks with Tim Burton attached to direct from a screenplay by John August, the cinematic adaptation of the "kaiju vs. giant robots" board game MONSTERPOCALYPSE was derailed by the production of Guillermo del Toro's "kaiju vs. giant robots" film PACIFIC RIM. A sequel to PACIFIC RIM continues to move forward, but now MONSTERPOCALYPSE is starting to get back on track anyway.
Replacing Tim Burton is Fede Alvarez, who made his feature directorial debut with the 2013 EVIL DEAD remake. The choice of Alvarez makes perfect sense, since he first caught attention for his "giant robot invasion" short film PANIC ATTACK!, which I have embedded below.
Alvarez will be crafting the screenplay for MONSTERPOCALYPSE with his writing partner Rodo Sayagues. The concept they have to work with
involves giant monsters who attack earth. After the humans fight back, the monsters retreat, but it is quickly discovered that they didn’t leave, but instead burrowed underground and are sending some sort of signal into space. The humans prepare for a possible future attack and develop giant robots that will fight the monsters if and when they return.
When it comes to kaiju vs. robot movies, I say "the more, the merrier", so I'm glad to see that PACIFIC RIM and MONSTERPOCALYPSE films are going to attempt to co-exist. The take Alvarez and Sayagues have on the concept is said to be "substantially different" from PACIFIC RIM.
This iteration of MONSTERPOCALYPSE doesn't have studio backing yet and is currently at the center of a bidding war between DreamWorks, Warner Bros., and Sony.
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